Emails and Smartphones

[smasheroO16]

Hello experts: I shall try to be as brief as possible. When, six years ago, I bought a brand-new Samsung Galaxy S7 for my wife, I had to set it up for her to use, since she has no knowledge whatsoever of digital procedures (I am not much better, but I managed it because I just followed, willy-nilly, what I was directed to do). At some point, the set-up process demanded an email address (this could have been for the Galaxy Play Store, but I can't remember). I created a Gmail account for her on my computer, and entered the address. The phone works fine.

However, my wife has a "thing" about emails being sent from google or anywhere else (I created a user account for her on my computer, since she WILL NOT use the internet on her phone (this is part of her "thing"). I check her emails every few months, while she looks on. Very occasionally, she has had an email security warning (read on the computer) that her gmail account has been accessed, but this is because, every nine months, I need to send a message (to myself), from her Gmail, just to stop the gmail account being closed for lack of use). She really does NOT like having to have a Gmail account. Yet, if I were to close her Gmail account, I am concerned lest various functions on her phone (perhaps updating a downloaded app, or whatever) should fail to work. After all, why was it demanded? On a couple of occasions when she has wanted an app downloading and installing on her phone (WhatsApp, or a third-party Gallery), I have done it for her. So, she will allow Internet use on her phone only when she is forced to.

The strange thing is that, when I bought a second-hand smartphone (S5) for my own use, two years ago, there was no demand for me to provide an email address, to set it up. Yet, I am able to use Google Play Store and get updates. So, why should my wife's phone have demanded one?

My question now is this: if I were to delete my wife's gmail account, would the functions of her phone be limited in any way? Would there be any kind of "penalty" for having deprived her phone of the email address that was demanded originally?

Thanks for your patience in reading this. I hope you will be able to provide informed advice on this matter, My wife gets quite upset about the emails from Google, and I don't know how to ease her mind about it. It would be far better for domestic peace, if they did not come.

 

[ocnbrze]

its a new feature they added in 2020(i think). yes some of the functions that require a google account will prompt you to sign in. but you can designate when the phone can be considered inactive(3 to 18 months). they will send her a text message warning her a month before it becomes inactive. so all you will need to do is just check into the account to keep it going.

here read this:
https://security.googleblog.com/2021/10/google-protects-your-accounts-even-when.html

 

[smasheroO16]

its a new feature they added in 2020(i think). yes some of the functions that require a google account will prompt you to sign in. but you can designate when the phone can be considered inactive(3 to 18 months). they will send her a text message warning her a month before it becomes inactive. so all you will need to do is just check into the account to keep it going.

here read this: (link follows)
Thanks very much for that, ocnbrze. It seems that what you say is the best that can be done.

And yet, my question remains unanswered. My wife wants me to get rid of (delete) that Gmail account. If I did, would there be any repercussions on her phone, by doing so?
smasheroO16

 

[ocnbrze]

And yet, my question remains unanswered. My wife wants me to get rid of (delete) that Gmail account. If I did, would there be any repercussions on her phone, by doing so?
smasheroO16

another article from google:
https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3036546?hl=en

from google:

Deleting your Google Account will affect all products associated with that account (e.g., Blogger, AdSense, Gmail), and affect each product differently. You can review the data associated with your account on the Google Dashboard. If you use Gmail with your account, you'll no longer be able to access that email. You'll also be unable to reuse your Gmail username.

so yes like i said anything that has to do with google and needs an account to sign in to use that service, you will not be able to do so unless you sign in with an active account. for an example if you wanted to watch a youtube video, she would need to sign into an account. the phone it self will still function. you can make phone calls and text. but if you want to use an app from the play store, you will be asked to sign in with a google account.

 

[Dannydet]

The Android Operating system is owned by Google, hence you need a Gmail account to access the phone. (Android smart phone).
IPhone is owned by Apple.
And that's the powers that be....

 

[ocnbrze]

The Android Operating system is owned by Google, hence you need a Gmail account to access the phone. (Android smart phone).
IPhone is owned by Apple.
And that's the powers that be....

you only need google acct to use anything pertaining to google services. so apps, play store, gmail or youtube will need an acct with google. everything else on the phone should still work ok.

 

[smasheroO16]

another article from google:
https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3036546?hl=en

from google:
so yes like i said anything that has to do with google and needs an account to sign in to use that service, you will not be able to do so unless you sign in with an active account. for an example if you wanted to watch a youtube video, she would need to sign into an account. the phone it self will still function. you can make phone calls and text. but if you want to use an app from the play store, you will be asked to sign in with a google account.

Thanks, ocnbrze, for this clarification. However, though I may seem to be dense (perhaps I am), I should like to press for even more clarification. As stated at first, my wife does not use the Internet (app) on her phone (or anywhere else — she is afraid of all this "high-tech" stuff). She does use WhatsApp, which is internet-based, but that's a bit different to going on the Web. She does not (and never will) do emails, gmail, shopping or anything else like that, on her phone. She just wants to do texting and phone calls (pay as you go). So, I'm thinking that, for her special limitations of use, it would be OK to delete the google email address. If you will, kindly confirm that this would be safe, in this special usage case. Thanks!

However, it occurs to me that, for some unforeseen reason, she might, one day, ask me to download an app for her on her phone (or an update to her third-party Gallery app.). In which case, if the google email were deleted, would this be possible? And what about system updates? Would those work or not, without the google account/email?

I really appreciate your spelling things out for me, so thanks a million!

 

[ocnbrze]

yes it should be fine to delete and the phone will work fine.

you can always create a bogus email with bogus info. i did this for my mom on her phone. she has not yet received any notification of it being canceled.

as for apps you can always go hunting for apk's of certain apps. you will need to allow 3rd party installations though in your phone's settings. but be careful there are quite a few malicious sites that will more than likely have malware or adware on the apk's they want you to install......so be careful on where and what you install.

here are some legit sites:
https://www.apkmirror.com/
https://apkpure.com/
https://f-droid.org/en/(this site seems to be down for the moment)

 

[smasheroO16]

yes it should be fine to delete and the phone will work fine.

you can always create a bogus email with bogus info. i did this for my mom on her phone. she has not yet received any notification of it being canceled.

as for apps you can always go hunting for apk's of certain apps. you will need to allow 3rd party installations though in your phone's settings. but be careful there are quite a few malicious sites that will more than likely have malware or adware on the apk's they want you to install......so be careful on where and what you install.

here are some legit sites:

Thanks indeed for all that my friend. especially about the bogus email address. I'm satisfied now.

 

[ocnbrze]

Thanks indeed for all that my friend. especially about the bogus email address. I'm satisfied now.

no worries.....keep us posted what has worked for your wifi, once you go Google-less.

 

[smasheroO16]

keep us posted what has worked for your wifi, once you go Google-less.

Seeing that no email has ever been received from that Google account (and that it's extremely unlikely that any message will ever come), my wife has agreed to let it be. However, with her permission, I have deleted a "personal" gmail account that she had for very occasional use, so there never will be any of those security messages that bothered her. (I needed to send one message every nine months, just to keep the account alive, and there was always a security alert from Google, afterwards. I could not explain matters to her, and, besides being tech-illiterate, she is easily frightened.)
She can now look on the Google account email as a kind of "password" only, in case her phone ever needs re-installing. She is now OK with that. Besides, seeing that she does not want to do personal emails any more, she is happy for me to delete her user account on the computer (which I am very willing to do).
So, in response to your request, I don't think there ever will be anything to report.

Thanks indeed for your valuable help and advice. You have been instrumental in preventing a divorce!